Boosted by strong sales of its pharmaceuticals, including drugs acquired from rival Schering AG, Germany-based Bayer yesterday reported 2007 revenues of $49 billion, up nearly 12 percent from 2006.

But Chairman Werner Wenning warned that sales would probably grow by only 5 percent in 2008.

Net income for 2007 rose to $7.1 billion, up from $2.6 billion in 2006. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and special items soared by 21 percent to $10.3 billion.

While Bayer said the full-year results exceeded its own targets, its fourth-quarter performance fell short of analysts' projections, with income plummeting by 79 percent to $100.8 million from $472.7 million in the 2006 fourth quarter because of one-time expenses. Fourth-quarter sales rose less than 1 percent, to $2.1 billion from $2 billion in 2006.

Analysts polled by Reuters expected fourth-quarter net income of $279.6 million, while analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had projected income of $317.4 million.

The one-time charges in the fourth quarter included the cost of integrating Schering, the former parent of Marshall-based Medrad Inc., a maker of medical imaging devices.

Bayer's North American sales for 2007 jumped by 5 percent to $12.4 billion. Bayer's North American headquarters is in Robinson, where it employs 1,500. Another 1,200 work for Medrad in the region.

Bayer said its 2007 results benefited from sales of oral contraceptives, including Yasmin, acquired as part of the Schering deal, and Betaferon, a treatment for multiple sclerosis also developed by Schering.

Among Bayer's consumer health-care brands, the top performers were Aleve, One-A-Day vitamins, Berocca vitamins and Canesten, an antifungal treatment.

At a news conference at its global headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, Mr. Wenning said he expected sales to increase by about 5 percent this year with Latin America and Asia experiencing the strongest growth. While he was upbeat about projections for continued growth in health care and the crop science division, which produces weed-control and other agricultural products, he warned that the material science business, which makes plastics and chemicals, would face a tougher year in part because of high raw material costs.

The company projected it will take special charges of about $989 million in 2008. The charges include continued integration of the Schering operations and restructuring in the crop science and material science divisions.

In October, the company said it would cut 200 jobs in Bayer MaterialScience throughout North America by 2009.